Wood Floor Cleaning Advice

When cleaning the floor we should take into account a type of wood and its finish or penetrating seals. Bitter enemies of hardwoods are dirt and sand. That is why we should use cleansers meant for the finish of our floor. The most common type of finish is polyurethane. Water based polyurethane is also widely used. What things do we need to maintain our hardwoods floor?

They are vacuuming and mopping, as well as stain removers. As for the most common penetrating seals they are wax, oils and acrylics. The finish of penetrating seals can be satin or matte. When choosing the cleaning agent, remember that ammonia can damage waxes and oils. Most housewives add white vinegar to warm water when they mop their wood floors. When cleaning the floor with white vinegar, do not let kids and pets enter the room. It is non-toxic and not dangerous for their health, but there could be footprints on the floor.

Before mopping vacuum all the dust from the floor. After it add vinegar to a bucket with warm water on the basis of 1/2 cup to 1 gallon of water. The mop head should be rinsed frequently. After you have mopped the floor, air dry it or use a soft cloth to dry the floor. But use of vinegar is not a good idea in case of Swedish finish. This floor should be dried after you have mopped it, otherwise there will be spots.

Some experts do not recommend to use oil soaps when you clean hardwoods with finish, because they can attract more dust and dirt than it was before. If your wood floor does not have finish, you can use them. In fact, it is rather difficult to remove stains from hardwoods with finish. You should remove one layer of finish, sand this place and remove the stain. Then take the finish and apply the new layer. As for other methods of wood floor cleaning, you can use vegetable-oil based cleaning agents. They are safe for our health, as well as oil soaps. But if you use the vegetable-oil based cleaning agent, do not mix it with vinegar or other cleaners.